Re: UI Rantings [was: Re: gmc and file-selection mockups]

[Dirk Luetjens <dirk Elfe lfm RWTH-Aachen DE>]

Hi,

while this discussion goes on and on, I will ask again wether it isn't
possible to change the implemention of the open-dialog via themes (or
possibly via CORBA, or better said, via replaceable objects). In this
case gnome could ship with a simplistic open.dialog. On the other
hand the power user is able to change his/her implementation to the
preferred one. 

This sounds a bit oversized, but as we see, there is no end to this
discussion. And on the other hand, in an object environment the user
should be able to exchange every object, even if it doesn´t make sence
in the most cases. 

Why not call the kde open file dialog via corba, or whatever while
using a kde theme, or the gnustep file dialog while using a gnustep
theme. This sounds somewhat stupid, but if we are living in an object
model environment and the interface to the open dialog is 
standardized, the implementation could change without breaking
functionality. And in the case of the open-dialog the interface
between the application and the dialog is very easy:

open dialog -> set dir. -> set filter -> get filename 
(or somenthing like this)

All the other things, we are discussiong about, like printing,
renaming and so on, is all handled in the dialog itself, and has no
influence on the application. 

Just an idea. Think about it.

Dirk

P.S. I would like to provide more than ideas, but gnome is running to
fast that I could catch up in the spare freetime I have beneath my
diploma thesis. Perhaps next year.

P.P.S Where can I read about the theme implementation in gtk? I would
like to now how it works. Someday I came across the berlin project
home page. As far as I remember they are building everything upon
CORBA, so that every widget could be exchanged easily. Is the theming
environment perhaps somewhat like a very light CORBA environment?